alexist

It's amazing just how much marketing gumph is pushed on expectant parents. It really gets hard to sort out what you need from what they're just pushing on you.

We can't buy anything in advance (Jewish tradition) so I really need to make a list. My mother's arriving 11 Jan, so I'll get her to buy some things :) It's actually kind of a shame we don't know if it's a boy or a girl because then we could ask her to get some things in the States where it's cheaper. (Especially at $1.96 to the pound! My poor parents are really going to get killed when they visit. London isn't cheap even when the dollar is strong.)

(this brought to you by the presence of the NCT catalogue at tonight's class, and discussion of some baby products.)

I also need to get a baby book. I had a look briefly a few weeks ago, and didn't settle on one. I'd like something relatively objective--I really hate authors who overpush their philosophy of parenting. For example, I like some of the ideas of attachment parenting (being baby-led, etc) but Dr Sears' book is ridiculous. He's so intent on pushing co-sleeping, for example, that he doesn't even address whether or not some parents shouldn't do it. I don't mean he should repeat the (probably overcautious) advice from the DoH that it shouldn't be done at all, but he doesn't address it. Oddly enough the website does. Same with breastfeeding--when discussing adoptive children his first suggestion is inducing lactation! Which is lovely if you can do it but it's very impractical for most women, and shouldn't be tossed off so casually. It's kind of a shame, as there did seem to be some useful things in there, but I'd spend my whole time being suspicious about it--or tossing the book in frustration when he says something stupid.